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Friday, May 27, 2011

Checking Out the Batu Secret Zoo, Malang

I have never been so enthusiastic in checking out animals before recently. I thought I had known them all from books, Animal Planet or Discovery Channel hence never found any interest or the need to check them out live. I don't know why these days I am so fated meeting with animals both in the wildlife and within the enclosures. In about two years time, I've visited Taman Rama-Rama in Malacca, Kinabatangan River, Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary and Orang Utan Rehabilitation Center in Sandakan - Sabah, Ostrich Farm in Seremban, Sentosa's Underwater World and Jurong Bird Park in Singapore, Museum Satwa and Batu Secret Zoo in Jatim Park II Indonesia.

Anyway, turned out that going to a zoo or something like that is actually a not too bad outdoor activity. I could better appreciate the animal's existence on this planet earth and definitely learn more about the great animal kingdom.

The Batu Secret Zoo.

When I visited Jatim Park II with my husband and friends earlier this month, part of the entrance ticket bundle was to visit Batu Secret Zoo. Few days earlier, my brother had already recommended me to see the animal collections displayed at Batu Secret Zoo as they are quite unusual compared to those at the normal zoos in Indonesia. Most of the part of this zoo are open concept so we had to use our umbrellas almost all the time when checking out the animals as that Sunday afternoon was still pouring hard.

True enough, when we first stepped in the Zoo, we were greeted by two large semi-aquatic rodents which we never saw before.

The comparison of normal rat vs. Nutria, the giant rat.

So big.

Moving on, we saw a huge collections of New World Monkeys, from the cute little ones to the super noisy one.

Common Marmoset from Brazil.

Golden-Headed Lion Tamarin from Brazil.

Then, we were shocked to witness the Flying Lemurs in their "Office".

Ring-Tailed Lemurs from Madagascar.

The area called Batu Secret Zoo A has various animal collections like birds, mammals and other primates confined in open areas.

Albino Kangaroos: No need to go so far to Australia to see them.

Below is one of the random quiz boards planted all over the zoo.

Guess, whose eyes are these? Not as easy as we thought.

And then we checked out the Aquarium. Again, we took a lot of photos of the fishes but I can't upload them all.

The frogs.

Petting the Binturong or Bear-cat.

The Polka Dot Stingray.

The Sea Turtle.

In front of the Fantasy Land, a theme park for children, we can also ride a horse (Kuda Tunggang) at only Rp. 10,000 (about SGD 2) per ride. Both adults and children can ride the horses.

First time riding a horse: My Husband was obviously bigger than the horse.

We also checked out the Tiger Land, a home of various tigers and lions.

The Eurasian Lynx. Handsome?

Puma.

The White Lion.

Taking photo with the Baby Tiger.

At this Zoo, there are a lot of cute real animal and animal cartoon statues to pose with. In the below photos, my husband voluntarily modeled with the statues for me.

Acting with the Shark at the Aquarium.

Acting with King Kong at the Fantasy Land.

Again, acting with Tiger at the Tiger Land.

This place is really huge. We better come a little bit early to see all the the animals and enjoy the provided facilities. This zoological park is clean, fun, very beautifully organized and educative so bring children along when visiting this place. It should be more fun with them around.